House of Dreams
by bredalot
Summary: Pam remembers reading Anne of Green Gables and builds her own House of Dreams.


**Disclaimer: I own a copy of Anne of Green Gables (actually, the whole series), but that's it. I have a couple of episodes of _The Office_ on iTunes, but that's it. So please don't sue, because I would hate to have to give them up.**

_A/N: This is kind of a follow-up/parallel to my story "Domesticity" from Pam's perspective, but it's not necessary to have read that. There are just a few allusions to details from that (because I like the idea that they have the same dreams about the future without the other knowing it). And I'm not sure if Avonlea really exists, but my uncle went to PEI and brought me back a picture of Green Gables, so I'm going to say it does. Also, this was partly inspired by how domestic they seemed shopping together in "Michael's Birthday."_

She remembers reading Anne of Green Gables when she was younger. Not just that one book, but the whole series. She knows that if she ever has a daughter, that will be one of the books she reads to her, because every little girl should know about Anne.

That was also where she discovered drawing. The descriptions in that series were so detailed and so beautiful that her fingers started itching. She couldn't figure out why until she started drawing the scenes, and the itch went away. She sometimes got frustrated, because she couldn't get them just right, but she kept trying and she got better. And now she wants to illustrate books, because of Anne of Green Gables.

She's never been to Canada, to Prince Edward Island, to Avonlea, so she doesn't know if her drawings are right. She's not sure if she wants to, because there was such a dreamlike quality to the books that she doesn't want to go away. But she's heard about Canada, and it seems rather dreamy anyway, and so she kind of wants to go. Not as much as she wants to go to Australia, but still. If she ever got the chance, she'd go in a heartbeat.

But she remembers in one of those books (she can't remember which one; she can't keep them straight anymore, anyway) Anne was building her "house of dreams." She remembers, because she likes the idea, and she started building one herself. Of course, it had the terrace off her bedroom, but it also had big windows with windowseats and curtains to block her off from the rest of the house. There were lots of trees in the yard, and maybe a little garden (because she doesn't like to garden, but she does like flowers). It was brick, with a nice chimney that they could have fires in on cold winter nights. She likes the idea of coming home from work and curling up in front of a fire with a book and a glass of wine and her head on a shoulder and not having to talk but being comfortable in silence.

But now she remembers Anne's problem: she built her house of dreams, and put in her dream man, but she couldn't get rid of Gilbert. He was always there, helping her, hanging a picture or tending the garden or building a fire. And that's Pam's problem now: she's got her lovely house, and Roy of course, because Roy has always been there and because she's going to marry him. But there's Jim, too, and she can't get rid of him. He's there, hanging a souvenir poster from Sydney (or maybe, she thinks, Canada), coming in from the garden bearing dirty knees and a handful of flowers, sitting next to her in front of a fire with one hand in her hair and reading over her shoulder. And with him next to her, picking up a bottle of fabric softener, she can see him grocery shopping with her. She can see him picking up bags of apples and boxes of cookies, and she can see herself being unable to say no to the cookies because he also got the apples (and because he's Jim, but she ignores that voice in her head). She can see him teasing her as she picks up bags of salad ("What, you can't make it yourself?") and trying to convince her to let him make it for her instead, but her refusing because he already makes her tea in the morning as well as his own coffee. She can see him, later, playing with little kids, lifting them up onto his shoulders so they're almost terrified (he's so tall), but they still feel safe.

She knows how they feel, because he makes her feel safe.

He makes her feel at home.


End file.
